Geoffrey Randall (SH 33-36)

Geoffrey Randall died on 28th October 1911 aged 93. He was born in Ulverston and was educated there and at St Bees School, from where he left aged 18 to train as a tanner at Randall and Porter Ltd. In 1939 he joined the TA and was then called up and commissioned into the King’s Own Royal Artillery. He was part of the rearguard which was evacuated from Dunkirk on 4th June 1940. From England he was sent to Bombay in January 1942 and later moved to the Gordon Highlanders, seeing action with them at the relief of Kohima in 1944 and the advance to Mandalay in 1945. Although Geoffrey returned to England in August of that year, he was then sent to Germany from November 1945 until March 1946, experiencing one of the worst winters of the last century. He had married Anne (Nan) Gendle in May 1941, and although he returned to the tannery on demobilisation, he bought Atkinson’s Bookshop in Ulverston in 1948 and the two of them ran this shop together for the next thirty years. Nan became ill in 1992 and Geoffrey nursed her with help from family until her death in 1995. He had a very busy life as President and Chairman of the Ulverston Chamber of Trade, the Furness and District Motor Club and the Ulverston Conservatives. He and Nan helped to start the Heritage Centre and what is now the Dickensian Festival. He was also involved with the Park Charity, the Civic Trust and the Citizens’ Advice Bureau as well as the Ulverston and Backbarrow branches of the British Legion. From his interest in local history, he also gave talks on the history of his native town. Latterly he was a member of the Ulverston Probus Club. Geoffrey leaves two sons, Bernard and Frank, two granddaughters, Sarah and Mary, and two great grandsons, Daniel and Joel.